


Freshmen

by hellcsweetie



Series: Intimacy Is A B*tch [10]
Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24886852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellcsweetie/pseuds/hellcsweetie
Summary: Donna and Harvey’s first day at their new job in Seattle.
Relationships: Donna Paulsen/Harvey Specter
Series: Intimacy Is A B*tch [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677328
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Freshmen

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a conversation between Ana (@annnahatcher) and Cece (@cecealways_), as well as a picture of Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty and Patrick J Adams.

When the elevator doors open, Harvey understands there will be none of the imposing marble and dark wood here. This is not a place of power and command. It’s a place of trust and community, of comfort. He doubts he’ll witness as many name changes as they did at their last firm. 

He instantly notes the rug, plush and beige and blue. He notes the light panelled wood walls and the modern lighting and the colorful art on the wall. He notes Donna’s hand capturing his and squeezing it. 

It’s the first first day they’ve had in almost two decades. In fact, their last first day had been together too. Harvey’s always known things go easier with Donna by his side; he’s just glad he’ll never have another first day without her ever again.

Mike and Rachel finally appear from around the corner and everyone beams instantly. They’d seen each other just two days ago but the hugs they share are of welcome and good to have you here and of pieces of a puzzle sliding into place.

They show them around the firm, introducing coworkers and departments, offering tips and anecdotes about cases. Mike and Rachel are as pleasant as ever but Donna keeps finding Harvey’s fingers and tangling them in hers and he keeps doing the same. 

This is new. It’s good and awaited and chosen, but it’s new. And no matter how certain they were of their choice, Donna and Harvey are creatures of habit, so new is always an adjustment. 

The firm is small and looks much less like a clinic than Harvey had expected. They both get great offices; Rachel wanted to make sure they felt welcome, Mike wanted to make sure Harvey knew his was bigger. 

They have an informal chat with the other two partners about how work usually goes, what their immediate needs from Donna are, aligning expectations. Over lunch their friends tell them about the area and recommend good places to eat near the office, as well as trusted delivery options. 

Their offices are across the hall from each other - another courtesy of Rachel, because she remembers how much Donna relied on being able to see Harvey at all times - and they share looks and grins throughout the day. Not much work gets done, they’ll have time for that. Instead, they focus on organizing and decorating their offices, which they were given full license to do, and getting acquainted with the environment. 

Truth is, Harvey was nervous. He’d been steady in their decision, but he was nervous about hating the rain or the coffee, about not finding a good replacement for Ray and being unable to get around the city comfortably, he was nervous about their new place and their new job. 

He was nervous about having Mike for a boss of sorts - in terms of hierarchy they are the same, but seniority and experience count, especially in this field - and he was nervous that he wouldn’t be cut out for the kind of work they did here. Harvey was tired of only ever fighting for the big guy, but he isn’t yet entirely convinced he can really care that much about the little guy, enough to justify moving across the country, giving up his name on the wall and the six-figure salary that came with it. 

He was nervous about being that much further away from Marcus and his kids, from their friends, from Lucy. It felt like once he’d finally made peace with all his ghosts and was in the right place to bring people close again, they up and moved away. 

But what Harvey was the most nervous about was Donna. For a while their relationship hasn’t been what it once was; he no longer takes her for granted or makes choices for her. And they’ve been working on being more open about things, communicating more clearly once they realized the weird sixth sense they had about each other was as much a beacon for disaster as practicity.

They have talked about this move endlessly. She has promised him about forty times that she wants this, that she’s excited, that it’s her choice too. 

Still, Harvey was nervous Donna wouldn’t fit in, that she’d feel diminished in a smaller firm, that she would miss her family or resent him for making her leave behind everything she’d known for the past sixteen years. He was nervous she’d wake up one day and realize she once again gave up her dreams and ambitions for him because the last thing Harvey ever wants from this life is to feel like he’s stifling Donna again.

So it is an unspeakable relief for Harvey to witness Donna acclimating and growing into her role. It’s an unspeakable relief to see their coworkers respecting her, accepting her guidance and wisdom. It’s an unspeakable relief to know no one here is likely to question how she got her job or make lewd implications. 

But most of all, Harvey truly cannot even begin to articulate how happy it makes him to watch Donna around Mike and Rachel. He never used to see much of Rachel when she was a paralegal, so he heard little of her and her friendship with Donna. He knows now they built a steady and light comradery out of existing in a world that looked down on them for their positions and their gender, who turned a blind eye to the essentiality of their work and their presence because they weren’t on the frontline of winning cases and closing clients. 

He relishes in watching them gossip and giggle, in being ditched at lunch so they can go to this new sushi place Rachel found, in the way the girl sometimes looks over at him suggestively when she’s chatting with Donna in her office in the middle of the day just to make him blush thinking they’re talking about him.

And he absolutely adores, with special fervor, the fact that Mike and Donna are friends too. So many years buried in himself made Harvey fail to notice their interactions, the way Mike would sometimes stop by Donna’s cubicle exclusively to talk to her about things that did not concern Harvey at all. He failed to notice their inside jokes and the secret looks they exchanged when Harvey was being particularly difficult. He never saw their quick banter about his vinyls or his balls. 

He knew they were friends, but for years he always sort of thought it was a friendship by proxy. But he knows now - and it’s even more clear here in Seattle - that they have their own thing going on and Harvey couldn’t love it more. These are two of the most important people in his life and to think they found each other as well makes him unexpectedly proud. 

It’s Friday, late afternoon. They’re almost gearing up to go home - it’ll be their third weekend in Seattle and Harvey’s eager to take his wife home and finally start relaxing a bit after two intense weeks - and Harvey’s sitting at his desk, gazing out across the hallway. 

Mike is helping Donna out with something, possibly the requirements for the recruitment drive they’re starting in two weeks. The boy points at something in her office, clearly making a joke; they laugh openly and Donna pinches his side. He takes a defensive step to the side and glares at her, blabbering on. She reaches out and musses up his hair and Harvey’s heart soars. 

It’s new and tricky and he’ll doubtlessly face problems with clients, with Mike and Rachel and the other partners, with judges and public servants and juries. But it’s starting to feel like home, mostly because he gets to look out of his office, across the glass, and find Donna smiling back at him.   
  



End file.
